Scott's birthday
I left our trip story unfinished with my former entry... Saturday, January 2, we set out to return home. Scott and I had even had big "discussions" a few weeks ago about when we would return home. He was pushing for Sunday, and I told him I really wanted to come home Saturday, so that we could unpack and have time to get ready for the week ahead.
Alas, he finally agreed, and so we packed our bags, loaded our car, and set out for home on Saturday, around 1:00 pm. We were leaving from my dad's house, and took 285, because of its proximity to that location.
An hour an a half into our trip, we came out of the mountains into the South Park valley. It was not snowing, but as soon as we entered the valley, snow blew straight across from west to east. The road ahead of us was white; the car just feet in front of us was white. Visibility was a matter of inches. And to make it worse, the sun blazed through each ice crystal, creating an blinding glare. Needless to say, we were anxious and nervous, wondering how we would ever make it home. Of course, Adrianna chose that moment to say, "Um, I need to go to the bathroom." Scott and I glanced at each other for just a second. "Honey, you're going to have to wait!"
Inching along the road at just a few miles per hour, we finally reached a highway patrol officer, blocking the road. "Sorry, folks. The road's closed." While we knew why it had to be, we didn't know how to get home.
We had to turn around and go right back into the white out conditions again. As we drove back into the mountains, we saw a car that had just gone off the road. Scott explained to me that the wind was so strong that he could feel it pushing our car across the sheet of ice the wind had blown onto the road.
By God's grace, we made it safely out of the valley. But then what? If we went back down into Denver and then started home on I-25, we would not get home until at least 10:00 pm, having traveled for 9-10 hours. That prospect didn't seem very appealing, especially considering that Adrianna does not sleep in the car. We made dozens of phone calls. We started by asking Scott's mom to check maps to see if there was another road we could take from where we were. Nope, it did not seem that there was.
We finally decided that we had made a three-hour round-trip to nowhere, and returned to my dad and Debbie's house for more fellowship. Staying another night at my mom and Richard's and getting more time with family was nice, but it was pretty discouraging starting again from scratch the next morning.
And the next morning, Sunday, (which I had not wanted to drive on in the first place!) was Scott's birthday. Helping my husband feel celebrated, while driving six hours home in the car is pretty difficult. We finally arrived home by late afternoon.
We were greeted with a warm refrigerator, full of spoiled food. I have to admit, I was pretty disheartened. I was so discouraged and tried from all the traveling and delayed day already, that I did not have much left to draw on.
We threw out all the spoiled food, Scott's parents brought over pizza, and we tried to let Scott know that we love him.
After the discouragement of losing so much valuable food, and dealing with a fridge that had broken for the second time, I saw God's kindness to us. Some loving family generously gave us some extra grocery gift cards they had, so that we could restock our food. And our fridge that had been in the garage for over four years cleaned up nicely and fit in beautifully into our kitchen. God is so sweet to us.
Alas, he finally agreed, and so we packed our bags, loaded our car, and set out for home on Saturday, around 1:00 pm. We were leaving from my dad's house, and took 285, because of its proximity to that location.
An hour an a half into our trip, we came out of the mountains into the South Park valley. It was not snowing, but as soon as we entered the valley, snow blew straight across from west to east. The road ahead of us was white; the car just feet in front of us was white. Visibility was a matter of inches. And to make it worse, the sun blazed through each ice crystal, creating an blinding glare. Needless to say, we were anxious and nervous, wondering how we would ever make it home. Of course, Adrianna chose that moment to say, "Um, I need to go to the bathroom." Scott and I glanced at each other for just a second. "Honey, you're going to have to wait!"
Inching along the road at just a few miles per hour, we finally reached a highway patrol officer, blocking the road. "Sorry, folks. The road's closed." While we knew why it had to be, we didn't know how to get home.
We had to turn around and go right back into the white out conditions again. As we drove back into the mountains, we saw a car that had just gone off the road. Scott explained to me that the wind was so strong that he could feel it pushing our car across the sheet of ice the wind had blown onto the road.
By God's grace, we made it safely out of the valley. But then what? If we went back down into Denver and then started home on I-25, we would not get home until at least 10:00 pm, having traveled for 9-10 hours. That prospect didn't seem very appealing, especially considering that Adrianna does not sleep in the car. We made dozens of phone calls. We started by asking Scott's mom to check maps to see if there was another road we could take from where we were. Nope, it did not seem that there was.
We finally decided that we had made a three-hour round-trip to nowhere, and returned to my dad and Debbie's house for more fellowship. Staying another night at my mom and Richard's and getting more time with family was nice, but it was pretty discouraging starting again from scratch the next morning.
And the next morning, Sunday, (which I had not wanted to drive on in the first place!) was Scott's birthday. Helping my husband feel celebrated, while driving six hours home in the car is pretty difficult. We finally arrived home by late afternoon.
We were greeted with a warm refrigerator, full of spoiled food. I have to admit, I was pretty disheartened. I was so discouraged and tried from all the traveling and delayed day already, that I did not have much left to draw on.
We threw out all the spoiled food, Scott's parents brought over pizza, and we tried to let Scott know that we love him.
After the discouragement of losing so much valuable food, and dealing with a fridge that had broken for the second time, I saw God's kindness to us. Some loving family generously gave us some extra grocery gift cards they had, so that we could restock our food. And our fridge that had been in the garage for over four years cleaned up nicely and fit in beautifully into our kitchen. God is so sweet to us.
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